CONTOUR AND GENERAL APPEARANCE. 151 



with the aid of the aurora borealis, and the reflection of 

 the snow, supply in a great measure the absence of the 

 sun. The cold, at this time of the year, is frequently so 

 intense as to freeze brandy and spirits of wine. The lakes 

 and rivers are covered with ice of extraordinary thickness ; 

 and the whole face of the country buried under snow to 

 the depth of at least four or five feet. In the alpine 

 regions the lakes have been known to be frozen to the 

 depth of a fathom on the 9th of July ; and the whole 

 range of these mountains utterly impassable in winter, on 

 account of the extreme cold ; the total want of subsistence 

 for the reindeer, and the violent gusts of wind which 

 overturn both men and sledges. The drifting of the snow, 

 when newly fallen, renders it impossible to go abroad till 

 a partial thaw has taken place, when a hard crust is 

 formed on the surface by frost, and enables the 

 natives to travel on their sledges with the utmost 

 celerity. During a thaw the atmosphere is sur- 

 charged with vapours ; but when the north wind 

 blows the air is clear and the sky beautifully serene. 

 Thunderstorms are not uncommon even in the depth of 

 winter. At the summer solstice the sun is as many weeks 

 continually above the horizon as below it in winter ; but 

 his light during the night is paler, and less brilliant than 

 during the day. The heat is then extremely oppressive, 

 especially in the valleys ; and the air is darkened by clouds 

 of troublesome insects, which the natives have no possi- 

 bility of avoiding, except by covering their heads with a 

 cloth, or smearing their faces with tar, or involving them- 

 selves in the smoke of a fire. " The degree of heat," says 

 Acerbi, " was twenty-nine (on the thermometer of Celsius) 

 in the shade, and forty-five in the sun. The ground burned 

 under our feet ; and the few shrubs we met with in our 

 way afforded us little or no shelter. We were almost 

 suffocated with heat; and, to add to our sufferings, we 

 were under the necessity of wearing a dress of thick wool- 

 len cloth as a security from the insects, and to cover our 

 faces with a veil, which in a great measure prevented our 



